Improvement in clock-calendars



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

NATHANIEL T. WORTI-ILEY, OF BRUNSWICK, MAINE.

IMPROVEMENT lN CLOCK-CALENDARS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 142,975, dated Sptcmber 16, 1873; application filed June 14, 1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, NATHL. TRUE WORTH- LEY, of Brunswick, in the countyof Cumberland and State of Maine, have invented a new and valuableImprovement in Calendars; and I do hereby declare that the following isa full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operationof the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings making a partof this specification, and to the letters and figures of referencemarked thereon.

Figure 1 of the drawings is a representation of a face view of mycalendar. Figs. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 are details of the same.

My invention relates to calendar-motions; and it consists of a number ofwheels, each with an appropriate number of teeth or notches,representing the months in ayear, the daysin a month, and the days in aweek, which are operated by a counting-lever, and show on a fixed dial,with dial-fingers, the names of the days in theweek, the date of themonth, and through an opening in the dial, by a revolving disk, the nameof the month. The object of my invention is to make an almanac, operatedby hand or by a clock, which points out the full (late of the year, andmay be worked without interruption through a large number of years,including leap-years, and which, on account of the simplicity ofconstruction, may be sold at a very low price.

In the drawings, A represents a disk or frame, generally made of wood,to which a dial, B, with a slot, 1), is fastened. The dial B is markedwith all the numbers from one to thirty-one, representing the days ofthe month. In a circle concentric to that of the said numbers, the namesof the days of the week are arranged, as seen in the drawing. In a verysmall circle at the center of the dial four years are marked, with theirforty-eight months. The slot b in the dial B exposes the names of themonths on a movable dial, 0, behind, which is fastened to a wheel, D,with fortyeight notches, representing the months of four years time. Thesaid notches d are of different depths, to answer the purposes hereafterdescribed, and four of these, which answer the representation of thesecond month in each year, are of very great depth, to effect therelease from the countingwheel, as. hereafter more fully described. Thewhole motion, except the revolving dial 0 and the wheel D, is inclosedin a frame composed of two parallel plates, E E, which are united by twoheavy studs, 0 0. Motion is received by a handlever, f, on a shaft, F,to which the double-actin g lever F is fastened. The leverFhasahammer-shaped head,with tworounded ends, f and f To the lower endfa doubleedged cam, g, is fastened, above which a movable cam-lever, g ispivoted to a pin, 9 to which, on the other side of the lever F, a pawl,H, is fastened, which works a ratchet-wheel, I, with seven ratchets. Theupper end f is provided with a boss, f, to which a weighted bellcranklever, J, is pivoted. The lever J has an adjusting-pin, j, at its lowerend, which works in a slotted guide, j, on the plate E, and dips intothe slots or notches d on the wheel D, the different depths of which arein accordance with the different numbers of days in the twelve months.The cams g and g operate the month-wheel K, with thirty-one pegs,representing the highest number of days in a month. Of these pegs,twenty-eight (k) are concentric to the axis of the said wheel K, andthree (7d) are diverging outwardly from the circle. The wheel K isprevented from moving back by a pawl, G, Fig. 7, swinging on the shaftF, and operating on the pegs k. The back motion of the wheel I isprevented by a spring-pawl, t, Fig. 3, and the back motion of themonth-wheel D is prevented by a similar spring-pawl, d, Fig. 2. Theshaft to which the wheel K is attached carries the cam L, Fig. 5, whichhas an ascending bearing surface, 1, beginning opposite the firstconcentric peg 7c, and reaching its summit opposite the last ortwenty-eighth concentric peg is, from where it returns to itsstarting-point by an inclined straight line, 1 and a vertical line, 1.On the surface of the cam L a pin, m, on a lever, M, travels while thecam is revolving, and a weight, M, on the end of the lever gives powerto it to operate the pawl N and the lever N, which is fastened to thesame shaft, m, to which the lever M is fastened, and which propels thewheel D. The wheel D revolves on a socket-bearing, 0 Fig. 2, whichprotrudes from the plate E, and forms the bearing for a hollow axle, l,to which the wheel I is fastened, Fig. 3, and through which the shaft kpasses. The revolving dial 0 has a pointing-finger, C, Fig. 1, pointingto the months and years of four consecutive years marked on the smallestcircle of the dial. The shaft 7&2 has a finger, K, which points out thedate of the month on the largest circle of the dial B. The hollow arboror axle t carries a finger, I, which points to the names of the daysarranged on the second circle of the dial B. When the calendar is to beoperated by a clock, the connection is made by a droplever, O, with adouble crank, 0, Fig. 3, which moves the boss f on the lever F. When thelever F is moved up the lever H leaves its place and moves along theinclination of the next ratchet-tooth until it slips over its edge. Atthe same time the cams g and g pass up between two of the pegs 7t, andas soon as the cam has got above the said pegs with its lower edge thepin it strikes the lever F, and keeps the said lower edge in suchposition that in its descent it glides over the next peg and moves itforward. The said descent of the cam 9 causes also the descent of thepawl II, by which one ratchet-tooth of the wheel I is moved forward, andthe finger I points to the next day, while the finger K has moved to thenext date, and the pawl G has entered between the next two pegs k. Inascending,

the cam g is pushed toward the cam g by the next peg, thereby preventingthe wheel K from being moved. The up-and-down movement of the lever Fcauses the pin j to slide up and down on the inner curve of the slot j,the termination of the stroke being the upper end of the slot j, and thebottom of one of the slots (Z in the wheel D. If the slot 1 is deep, thepin j causes the lever F to descend lower than usual, and the upper partof the cam 5 passes down to within the centers of the pegs 7:, butpasses below the pegs k Therefore, as soon as the last concentric peg kis released, and the cam has finished its down-stroke, the divergingpegs 70 are caused, by the action of the weight m and the pin m on theinclined surface I of the cam L, to slip forward over the cam 9 and tomove the finger K to the number l on the dial D. This answers therequirements of the month of February, and every fourth of the deepslots (1 is of less depth to permit only the last two of the divergingpegs k to slip over the cam g ,and thereby include one of the pegs k inthe number of the regular working and counting pegs. The

finger K in this case points out twenty-nine days, and then moves to thefirst day again. The months with thirty days are represented by slots (1of less depth than that of the lastnamed case, and they permit only oneof the pegs k to slip over the cam 1 The months with thirty-one days arerepresented by the shallowest slots (1 on the wheel D, which causes allthe pegs L and k to be successively operated, and consequently there isno slip over the cam 9 and no skipping of any of the numbers on the dialB by the finger K. To prevent the forward slip of the pegs k when thecam g is raised, the said cam is made to overlap the cam g, whicharrests the progress of the said pegs until the cam g has engaged thefollowing peg. The descent of the lever M causes the forward motion ofthe pawl N by the lever N and the turning of the wheel D to the nextslot (1, in which motion the rotating disk 0 participates, therebyexhibiting the name of the next month through the slot 1) in the dial B,and moving the finger G to the next monthly mark of the small index onthe dial B.

This calendar-motion is correct for the term of four hundred years, whenthe omission of the bissextile day makes a correction necessary, whichconsists in the skipping over the three diverging pegs 7J1, instead oftwo, and may easily be effected by moving the cams g and 9 above therange of the pegs k, and adjusting the wheel K by hand.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. An automatic calendar-motion composed of the rotating disk (J, thefour-gear wheel D, the month-wheel K, the cam L, the levers M and N, thepawls N, G, and '2', and the lever F, with the lever J, the pawl II, andthe cams g 9 substantially as specified.

2. In a calendar-motion, the combination of the wheel D and the lever Fwith the lever J, the pawl H, the pin h, the cam g the pin g and the camg, constructed and arranged substantially as and for the purpose setforth.

3. In a calendar-motion, the combination of the revolving cam L with theascending curve 1, the inclined bearing 1 and the vertical return line 1and the weighted lever M with the pin m, the shaft m the lever N, andthe pawl N, constructed and operated substantially as specified.

In testimony that I claim the above I have hereunto subscribed my namein the presence of two witnesses.

NATHL. TRUE WORTHLEY.

Witnesses:

AMANDA J. WonrnLnv, Gno. BARRON.

